All business for Leopards' McGovern, Wycinowski

Eric McGovern and Brian Wycinowski are business and economics majors at Lafayette, so when sports information director Phil LaBella introduced them at Tuesday’s media luncheon, he said, “Given the way the market is, where should Coach T and I put our money?”

“Right now, I’m taking a class called Acconometrics … trying to predict how the market will move when situations are kind of like they are right now,” McGovern said when LaBella asked what courses were of special interest this semester. “It ties is very well with the economy.”

“I didn’t lose a penny in the market because I didn’t have anything in it,” Lafayette Coach Frank Tavani said, picking up on the levity of the moment. “But TIAA-Cref [a financial services group that handles retirement services in the academic community] is looking very bad. I think my retirement goal is now 85, I told [athletic director] Bruce [McCutcheon] this morning. I said, ‘Can I get another extension?’ and there was no comment and he hung up.”

The economy has lots of problems these days, but Tavani’s stock on College Hill is rock solid. The Leopards are on the crest of a seven-game winning streak; and after being picked fifth in the Patriot League’s preseason pole, they may be surprising the skeptics with wins over Marist, Georgetown and Penn.

Leopards' Goldsmith is OK with No. 60 -- now

Given his druthers, Neil Goldsmith would not have selected No. 60 for his college football career.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even want No. 60,” the Lafayette sophomore linebacker said when I asked him if the uniform number had any significance for him. “But we had about a hundred guys.”

A couple of weeks into his freshman season with the Leopards, Goldsmith was ready exchange a number that he thought was more suited to an interior lineman than to a linebacker.

“But everyone was saying, ‘It’s so you, you have to keep it’”, he said. And now, a year later, he reasons, “I’m probably the biggest linebacker. It sort of fits me now, and I feel like I shouldn’t change it. The coaches like it, the players like it. Yeah, I was a little upset at first, but the player makes the number, the number doesn’t make the player.”

Stunner in Pa: Van Gilder, Driscoll, Bahnson WIn MAC Opener

Against the stunning backdrop of the Lehigh Valley’s South Mountain, the best of the MAC Cyclocross Series opened their 2008 season with the UCI Nittany Lion Cyclocross at Penn State University’s satellite campus in Fogelsville Pennsylvania on Saturday. By the end of the day, some of the results were as stunning as the scenery. Though the UCI races were the main event, the most lasting memory of the race may turn out to be the performance of Jeff Bahnson (Secret Henry’s/Van Dessel Factory Team) in the men’s "B" race.

Eagles Notebook

McNabb’s Big Day … With his 20-yard touchdown pass to RB Correll Buckhalter in the 2nd quarter, QB Donovan McNabb became the Eagles all-time leader in that category, moving past Ron Jaworski (175). McNabb now leads the Eagles in touchdowns (176) and completions (2,259). He trails Jaworski by 81 attempts and 721 yards for the club record in those categories.

Steelers ready to rock the Linc

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin wasn’t being flip when he questioned where the heck all the reporters from Pittsburgh were getting “team” medical reports. Tomlin, speaking via conference call to the Philadelphia media on Sunday, was responding to reports that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a separated shoulder and defensive end Brett Keisel would be out for a month with a calf injury. “I don’t know where they’re getting all these medical reports around here,” he joked. “They know more than our doctors.” Tomlin said that Roethlisberger has a mild sprain of his right (throwing) shoulder. The sprain to the AC joint is a considered a separation – but there are degrees to it, and Roethlisberger apparently has the lowest degree. Still, the thing more pressing for Tomlin was dealing with the Eagles secondary, despite watching Terrell Owens and Jason Witten light up the Eagles on Monday night football. “They got three staring corners,” Tomlin said of Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown and Lito Shepherd. “Man, it’s reminiscent of the day when they had Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor and Al Harris over there. But those three guys, they’re playing with, and of course [Brian] Dawkins is bringing it all together in the back end, so they’re a great team and we got our hands full this week.” The Eagles are 1-1 heading into the 4:15 p.m. game at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, the Steelers are 2-0, looking to make it to 3-0.

A special night for the No. 17

The pregame coin flip had extra significance for a couple of guys wearing the No. 17 Saturday night at Fisher Stadium.

Andy Romans is Lafayette's preseason All-American linebacker and team cocaptain. Dean Duchak is a senior fullback who didn't even dress in the Georgetown opener last week but was designated as a game-week cocaptain for the game in Easton.

The overwhelming majority of fans in the stands probably didn't even watch. The coin flip is not big stuff -- usually. But the families of Romans and Duchak had to be especially proud when, while cocaptains routinely shake hands, the greeting between Romans and Duchak was almost a hug, as they patted one another on the helmet and also tapped helmets.

Hoyas make good use of the Internet

I wonder how many athletes were denied the opportunity to play at the highest possible level simply because coaches never came calling.

When I was in high school, one of a coach’s best pipelines consisted of former players who maintained their interest in the program and took the time to either call or write a coach about a kid they happened to see at a Friday night game somewhere. Word of mouth worked wonders.

A strong-armed quarterback, maybe. A big and shifty running back. A huge, but extremely mobile lineman. Worth a look, for sure.

Often, the coach and the athlete never got together. Not enough time. Not enough money. Not enough people to follow up on the leads.

Today, if they chose to do it, coaches could sit in their offices and recruit players without ever boarding a plane or taking a long drive.